Arts icon: Arts community celebrates Dorothy MacKenzie Price

When the foyer and corridors of Ballet Theatre of Toledo buzz with anticipation, Nigel Burgoine, the ballet’s artistic director, is usually overcome with opening night jitters as he anticipates the stage manager’s “Curtain up and places” command.

However, the afternoon crowd of 50-plus guests of all ages and artistic interests gathered in those same foyer and corridors were awaiting something completely different — the entrance of a friend described by artist Yolanda Woodberry as “an icon of Toledo’s art community.”

It was 2:30 p.m. May 6, the day before Dorothy MacKenzie Price’s 86th birthday, and performers, artists, authors, educators and a handful of her longtime friends, some from as far back as 50 years, had gathered to celebrate the life and loves of a woman committed to the Toledo dance, music, art and literary communities.

Escorted by her daughter, Susan Hollern, visiting from Sedalia, Colo., Price entered the foyer to applause and a raucous rendition of “Happy Birthday to You.”

“She was surprised,” Hollern said. “She needed a little time to recompose herself. You know, you get humbled by that kind of reception. She’s very appreciative. She has a lot of very good friends who she really appreciates, and she was just happy to see people.”

Dorothy MacKenzie Price PHOTO BY WARREN WOODBERRY

Those friends included people from St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Maumee, the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, the Valentine Theater, the Toledo Symphony, the Toledo Museum of Art, the Ballet Theatre of Toledo, the Toledo Opera, Bowling Green State University and the University of Toledo, and all of them were ready to celebrate.

“It’s important to me that we support a lady who has been very, very good for something that’s as important as the arts,” Woodberry said. “Art is a part of us. It’s all about creating. It’s so important to encourage the creativity and the development of people.”

Although Price acknowledged that she has been generous to Northwest Ohio individuals and organizations, she said the most important thing to her is that people learn to recognize and respond to one another’s needs. She insisted time and again that her ability to help other people in need is her sole talent in life.

Price is fond of telling the story of “the music people from BG and UT and all the wonderful things they were doing. And I couldn’t believe they had to play on that kind of piano. That’s the way it started out. I saw a need. It all came out of need, and by accident, it helped make me happy that I could do the right thing.

Burgoine said Price has been “standing by us from the very beginning, helping us get this all started. She helped so very much.”

Price said she started “helping at the ballet because of Nigel. I said, ‘My money goes with him because I know how good he does.’ All these people here do things from their heart, for whatever reason, and I get to help them when I see their need.”

Burgoine used a ruse, asking Price to preview a rehearsal to get her out of her to his theater for the party.

Burgoine ended his ruse, a 15-minute production of song and dance routines, with the presentation of the “Golden Pointe Shoe Award,” a homemade, one-of-a-kind statuette. The award included a piece of the threshold to the practice room that dancers cross over daily, a piece of the gray marquee flooring on which dancers practice and perform, a piece of one of the ballet bars that dancers hold on to and a tiny pair of ballet slippers perched on top.

“It’s an original,” Burgoine said. “Dorothy has so many plaques. I wanted something that would say, ‘This is us. This is the kids.’”

Price said she is appreciative of the thought behind the presentation.

“It’s wonderful,” she said. “It’s not worth anything, but it means everything.”

Woodberry was pleased that the guests were able to make time to celebrate Price’s contributions.

“Although there were a lot of other things going on, people wanted to help to make this party possible because Dorothy is such a kind person,” Woodberry said. “She has helped so many people in the arts. You need to honor people like that and let them know.”

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United Way campaign donations increase

Despite tough economic times, United Way of Greater Toledo increased the money it raised during its annual campaign for the second year in a row, collecting $13,607,300 in 2011.

“The community really should be thanked. It’s a tremendous effort,” said Bill Kitson, president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Toledo. The sum is a 1.5 percent increase above 2010’s $13,409,320, but still short of the 2011 goal of $13.8 million. Funds from the campaign will go toward United Way’s efforts at improving health, education and income in 2012.

“The fact that we were able to increase 1.5 percent is just a great testament to the engagement and the generosity of this community at both a personal level as well as a corporate level,” said Tom Manahan, 2011’s campaign chair and president of The Lathrop Company. 2012’s campaign chair will be Randy Oostra, president and CEO of ProMedica.

The campaign, which officially kicked off in September and ended Jan. 12, received contributions from about 30,000 donors. 2011’s campaign featured a Leadership Matching Challenge Grant, sponsored by Mercy and Medical Mutual, which matched any new or increased leadership gift of $1,000 or more, creating $3.5 million.

Bill Kitson

The Education Matching Challenge Grant, sponsored by SSOE Group and Lathrop, matched education-designated gifts of $100 or more, garnering $615,000 in education designations.

“The fact that education designations doubled this year shows the fact that the community shares our passion for graduating kids. We’re very concerned that every child have an education,” Kitson said.

Tocqueville Society gifts of $10,000 plus, spearheaded by George and Leslie Chapman, were another source of funds. The Chapmans were able to increase the number of these donors by 20 percent, resulting in a 9 percent increase in dollars donated for Tocqueville Society gifts. About 95 individuals donated at this level, bringing in more than $1.3 million.

Workplace donors included The Andersons, Chrysler Toledo Assembly Plant, Owens Corning, the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Refining Company, the Wood County Government Offices and Owens-Illinois, which set the record with $785,318 in donations.

Many companies offered to match employees’ volunteer hours with cash contributions to United Way or other organizations, a strategy that the United Way may use in next year’s campaign.

“There absolutely is a strategy to this volunteerism. If you could deploy volunteers in very strategic ways, they could be almost as useful as dollars,” Kitson said.

Another unique part of 2011’s campaign was that it kicked off with a week of Days of Caring, where employees give their time to volunteer work, instead of the standard one Day of Caring. Instead of the typical 300-400 volunteers, 1,200 volunteered that week.

“Not only is it the impact of all the hours they put into that volunteer activity, but just the fact that they’re out there in the community, they tend to get a much better feel for the need in the community, and then they get more engaged, which tends to snowball into more gifts, more volunteers,” Manahan said.

The campaign concluded with a Victory Celebration on Jan. 12 at Courtyard at the Docks, sponsored by Dana Corporation. At the celebration, Best Buy received the Spirit of Caring —Outstanding Company award.

“It’s a company that’s really done fabulous work in our community, beyond dollars and cents, getting into the neighborhoods, helping folks with very real issues,” Kitson said.

Some of Best Buy’s work in 2011 included running a “Geek Bus” into low-income communities, where staff taught a computer course. The United Way also awarded Olivia Summons and her team at the Toledo Refining Company the Campaign Team of the Year award. It is the first time since 2008 that the company raised more than $100,000, something Kitson attributed to Summons and her team.